USA, Maryland, Baltimore, Inner Harbor, skyline from Federal Hill, sunrise. Credit: Walter Bibikow via Getty Images.
Two suspects in an attempted attack on Baltimore's electric grid have been arrested, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Unsealed court documents show that Sarah Clendaniel of Maryland and Brandon Russell of Florida are racist extremists who allegedly wanted to "completely destroy" Baltimore by shutting down its grid.
He started communicating with an FBI informant about the attack in December soon after being released from prison.
“Together, we are using every legal means necessary to keep Marylanders safe and to disrupt hate-fueled violence,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron during a press conference on Monday. “When we are united, hate cannot win.”
The arrests come amid a series of attempted attacks on power stations, as well as one successful one in North Carolina that cut power to 45,000 households. So far, no one has been arrested for that attack.
"In the last decade, we have increased our level of investment on grid hardening capital projects, and monitoring and surveillance technologies to work to prevent both physical and cyber-attacks," said Exelon and Baltimore Gas and Electric in a statement. "We remain focused on improving the resiliency of the grid by stocking critical back-up equipment while designing a smarter grid that isolates damage and routes power around it."
Palestinians in the sealed-off Gaza Strip are scrambling to find safety, as Israeli strikes demolish entire neighborhoods, hospitals run low on supplies and a power blackout is expected within hours.
Claudia Goldin, a Harvard University professor, was awarded the Nobel economics prize on Monday for research that helps explain why women around the world are less likely than men to work and to earn less money when they do.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Sunday he has ordered the Ford carrier strike group to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel after the attack by Hamas that has left more than 1,000 dead on both sides. Americans were reported to be among those killed and missing.
Men dug through rubble with their bare hands and shovels in western Afghanistan on Sunday in desperate attempts to pull victims from the wreckage of earthquakes that killed at least 2,000 people.
Israel’s military ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip on Monday, halting entry of food, fuel and supplies to its 2.3 million people as it pounded the Hamas-ruled territory with waves of airstrikes in retaliation for the militants’ bloody weekend incursion.
